EARLY – The Early Longhorns scored twice in the bottom of the first inning, which proved to be all the offense needed as Caiden Laird tossed a two-hit shutout to defeat the Bangs Dragons, 2-0, in District 8-3A baseball action Tuesday night.

The win secures the second playoff seed for Early (18-8, 10-3), while Bangs’ (13-11-1, 7-6) is locked into the third seed from 8-3A.

In Early’s half of the first inning, Jeremy Brown led off with a walk and moved to second base on a sacrifice by Rylie Hill. With two outs, Bradly Roman reached on a Bangs error that allowed Brown to plate the first run. Tyson Tyler followed with an RBI single that knocked in Roman with the second and final run.

The Longhorns finished with four hits off Bangs pitchers Brayton Wedeman and Angel Arias, who combined to strike out eight batters and walk four. Frankie Villarreal and Rode Walters added hits for Early.

Laird tallied eight strikeouts and did not issue a walk as Ethan Ethridge doubled and Ethan Cortez singled for Bangs.

The Longhorns wrap up their regular season at Comanche at 4 p.m Friday, while the Dragons host Dublin at 7 p.m. Friday.